Pericles Synopsis

Pericles, Prince of Tyre, has the spirit of a knight errant, and goes on one adventure after another. In the first, he accepts the challenge of the King of Antioch to read a certain riddle. Success is to be rewarded with the hand of the King’s beautiful daughter; failure punished with death. Pericles discovers the secret of the riddle -- the King has committed incest with his daughter. Pericles refuses to marry this Princess and returns to Tyre. He is next seen relieving a famine at Tarsus, where he wins the enduring gratitude of the governor Cleon and his wife Dionyza.

Now Pericles is shipwrecked near Pentapolis, and finds himself among some fishermen who, drawing in their nets, discover his armor in them. The Prince dons the armor and enters the lists at Pentapolis, wins first honors, and marries Thaisa, daughter of King Simonides.

Sailing for home, Thaisa apparently dies in childbirth and is buried at sea. Pericles takes his daughter, Marina, to Tarsus to be cared for by his old friends Cleon and Dionyza. Thaisa is washed ashore alive at Ephesus, believes Pericles is dead, and takes the veil of chastity.

Dionyza becomes jealous because Marina so far surpasses her own daughter in beauty and intelligence and arranges to have her murdered, but Marina is stolen by pirates and sold to procurers in a brothel in Mitylene. She escapes violence through her purity and beauty, and becomes a teacher to earn her living without sacrificing her honor.

Pericles hears from Tarsus that his daughter is dead. His ship is driven to Mitylene, and there he is entertained by Lysimachus, who sends for the now-famous Marina to divert the saddened and bereft Pericles. The prince recognizes his daughter, and the goddess Diana appears to him in a vision directing him to go to Ephesus. Here he finds his lost wife, Thaisa, and the family is reunited.